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Thirst in the Desert

Arriving home rather late Sunday night I hopped in the bed and was asleep about thirty minutes after I got home. Then, up at five and off to do my twelve hours. Therefore, no Monday blog post. However, I am now sitting here musing over some ravioli as I look at TCS's stock needs.

Running a market to the public is creating an interesting (to me) visual picture of low sec. If I was running a market to only my associates this image would develop differently. However, I seek to reach beyond my own channel lists. My sales show that I am doing that indirectly. Something that pleases me. While I was gone TCS rolled about 2.7 billion in stock. It would have been a bit more if I could have refilled things that emptied. This covers everything from ganking gear to Retrievers. Some of my first run of fighters sold and I am out of a few boosters as well.

I often hear that low sec is a wasteland by those that do not live there. it is a desolate expanse where nothing is quite worth making a living there. A side note of that comment is that one reason that it is a desolate wasteland where nothing is quite worth it is because of the pirates. The hordes of pirates that flow across the low sec terrain is such that nothing productive can be done.

I reject this idea. I live in low sec and have from very close to my start. I live here. I am productive here. Why don't I count?

From what I can tell, I don't count because I am one of the pirates. Pirates are part of the landscape. I've used described the residents of low sec as fauna before. Often this description seems to be more apt than I intended. People come into low sec to 'do some PvP'. They set traps for the locals that sometimes succeed and sometimes do not. They spray on pirate spray and attempt to sprint their industrialists through to their goals hoping that we're asleep from gorging on those that failed to pass.

But then there is life in the desert. People will always wander the vast wastelands of the occasional oasis or city. I'm not sure which I qualify as. I'd go with Oasis considering my small size. Through my store I get to see that low sec is a thriving economy. It is a thirsty economy. Not just for the tools of destruction but the ones of every day life.

Listening to my boys chat they do lust for destruction. They want to log in and they want to have good fights. They want to have ships to fly and ammunition to burn. It sounds so violent. Cannot we just work together and do positive productive things? Sure. But PvP is Eve's fire. The ecological cycle demands the consumption and destruction to create renewal. If my boys never died and my boys never killed where would their suppliers be? I'm not speaking of ganking, for those whose minds only roll towards the flocks of red catalysts soaring through the high sec belts. I'm speaking of Pirate v Pirate. The fights and battles that rage in the silent, unobserved space of low sec.

If my store shows one thing it is that low sec is not a barren wasteland. It may be a desert. A harsh land full of intense heat that saps at the strength and slows movements. It may be parched stretches of land where one can easily become lost without knowing how to navigate. I do not debate that it is harsh or argue against the evidence left by ravaged corpses in the sand. It isn't the nicest place to be but it is amazing how some thrive there anyway.

The evidence of TCS over the last six months supports that. I don't think that Bosena is so unique that no other low sec area can thrive in a similar manner. Of course, my vision of thriving is different from some. I don't measure my metrics by how much I can make out of every instance. I'm sure I'd be rolling around in more ISK and not saving for a jump freighter if I did. For the dismissive crowd, my project isn't worth their time.

That is fine. It is worth my time. I live here. I thrive here. I enjoy this place. For now I am writing contracts and shipping items to save myself time. I have a lot of stuff to move and a store to get back on its feet. I have people to reship and ammunition needs to fill. I have a task list that is mildly daunting and puts a smile on my face at the same time.

Comments

In my mind lowsec is more like a "Mad Max" Wasteland you have settlements, industry like the oil compound and trade stations like bartertown. In between and often even out of those points of "civilization" marauders roam; some kill for money and goods, most do it for the fun of it. Sometimes a great Humungus unites some poeple and goes on a rampage. But most of the time the waves of trade, industry and marauding just clash, intermingle and flow arround each other in an everchanging environtment that keeps all these things on a smaller scale level.

How odd that for the 2nd time this week I'm making the following correction:

I think you mean 'hordes'. (Hoards of pirates are a whole different thing.)

What moon did you bury your loot on, matey?

As for the topic, I don't think CCP should spend time trying to make all areas of space equally populated (indeed some perfectly valid playstyles are only possible in sparsely populated areas.) But spending some time getting the risk/reward/effort equation somewhat close to balance is probably time well spent.

Thank you and I have corrected it. I am far from perfect in my usage and will, regularly make mistakes. I appreciate the heads up sot hat I can clean such errors.

As for the topic, I do not think that CCP should make Low Sec have the population of high sec and agree that the equation should be looked at. I spend a lot of time chewing on it as it is one of my primary soap boxes.

But in this I speak more of other players comments in regards to low sec. The lack of representation on the CSM makes me sad. Especially when I have watched CSM members belittle and sneer at low sec. To often the 'fix' is to make it a version of null sec.

While I do not wish for CCP to ignore us I also do not want this false noise that there is nothing here or any viability of living to be the only sound echoing in the room.

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